Category: library service

Its grand to have a dream, a vision for your library. I love having big visions for my library and I can quite happily dream away and imagine how its going to look. Then we have to make it happen……. It’s not easy making it happen, there are so many things to consider. Finances Equipment …

We had our soft launch of e-books today. Which by the end of the day, didn’t feel that soft. We have had soft launches before – our new discovery layer, where we changed the link to our catalogue and made a website announcement, but that’s it. No big fuss, just quiet and calm. Same with …

I normally don’t weigh in with a blog post when there is a heavy topic in library blogging, but am going to on this one because of my own particular interest and experience of late. If you haven’t already caught the discussion on libraries, their mission and 3D printers, I recommend you do so first. …

For many years, our public library service has been part of a consortia that conducts an annual survey. We have been participating for many years, but this year the number of library services more than doubled, so the data we received, both for our library service as well as for all those involved, is even …

Hybrid reference was what we had in terms of a reference collection when new databases and other online resources started coming in and replacing traditional reference books. At that stage it was hybrid, because there was still much that was better and more easily satisfied with a reference book, rather than an online resource. That …

I keep hearing and reading about how libraries are all about information. I’ve been hearing and reading that for years. I work in a public library and although information is still what we do as librarians, our reference questions have greatly reduced and information sources are not the highest lending parts of our collections. Most …

I was happy to again be attending the ETF, which is a collaborative training event organised by Deakin University, Geelong Regional Libraries and Gordon TAFE. With a new format and new location and with a theme of “Using technology well”, it was an amazingly insightful day. Here’s my amazingly detailed notes from the day – …

Librarians are trained to answer questions. We are taught the reference interview process so that we can discover what the asker is really seeking, as often what they initially ask for is either too general, or not really what they are wanting at all. But some questions are just too general or maybe too tentative …

At a staff meeting yesterday, I asked staff for feedback on our training blog. The overwhelming response was that actually using the database and seeing what it can do (achieved through an introduction and series of questions that utilise its different features), made staff more aware of the resource in their daily work, more likely …

Was reading a newspaper article about how some pharmacists are refusing to dispense the pill, because it goes against their personal beliefs. An interesting dilemma. Although our similar dilemma is not life threatening, librarians have to deal with this every day. We lend out titles that go against our beliefs, we give access to information …

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Day 3 – Thursday 14th February 2019 Revitalising first nations languages: keeping culture strong in the digital world – Terry Janke Estimate that there are only 20 Indigenous languages being used in every day speech. 90% of languages are endangered and because they are an oral race, there is limits to what is written […]

Day 2 – Wednesday 13th February 2019 Connecting with users and enriching the library experience in the digital age – Carla Hayden (Librarian of Congress) The importance of reading can not be underplayed. In USA history, African Americans who learnt to read were severely punished, as were the people who taught them to read. “Palaces […]

Day 1 – Tuesday 12 February 2019 Genevieve Bell – Wonder in the age of AI: art, creativity and possibility SIRAC, the first computer stored memory, began its life at Sydney, but then most of its life at Melbourne University. It taught an entire generation about computers and it was used to process data about […]

And finally – great finish to a great conference. ————————————————————– Keynote 5 – The C Equation: Content + Connection + Community = Contented Customers – David Lee King Content – libraries have traditional forms of content, but also more cutting-edge forms. Some examples are ukuleles for loan, guitars, electronic EDM devices, checking things out to […]

And here are my notes from Day 2 – not including of course, the presentation that I gave with my manager Daniel Lewis. ————————————————————————————– VALA Conference 2018 – Wednesday 13 February Plenary 3 – Linked Data Liminality – Matt Miller Matt is a Metadata Librarian, programmer/developer, adjutant at a library school, worked in public and […]

Wow, it’s been two years since I posted here. How do I know? My last posts were about VALA 2016. And now I am back with my VALA 2018 notes. I must post here more often. 🙂 Anyway, it was another great conference and it was my honour to be on the program committee to […]

On Day Three I both chaired a session and presented in another, so there are less notes, but I hope you still find them helpful/useful. The museum as startup – Nancy Proctor (Baltimore Museum of Art) Startup – human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty – […]

Building a Framework for Semantic Cultural Heritage Data – Valentine Charles Valentine works with the Europeana Foundation, which is the central portal for cultural heritage in Europe. Europeana has a huge range of items from European countries, including content from and related to Australia. The European Library was the model on which Europeana was based, […]

Always take away great thoughts and ideas from VALA – here’s what I got from Day 1. Librarianship: saving the world one community at a time – Dr R David Lankes Technology advances have made the world a smaller place. Expectmorelibrary.com. Not all is well in the world and librarians have a part to […]

I was fortunate enough to attend the most recent of these annual events, with guest speaker Marianne Broadbent. She was a very thought provoking speaker. Hope you get as much out of my notes as I did from attending the session. Marianne Broadbent – Implementing 21st Leadership at Multiple Levels Good skills to have are […]